~ Annafi Wahed ’12
I was born in Bangladesh, and lived there until I was eight years old. Then I moved to New York, and have been living in the States ever since. Surprisingly enough for a NYC public school, my high school did not have a very large South Asian population. Neither does Bryn Mawr, and so the majority of my friends happen to not be South Asian. And even though I am and always have been involved in the South Asian clubs, I have been accused of being “whitewashed” or “not cultural enough” on numerous occasions. I’m sorry to break anyone’s bubble, but watching Bollywood movies does not make one “cultural,” especially the movies coming out these days. When was the last time you watched a Bollywood movie with your parents without getting embarrassed? If I want to see girls shaking their boobs and butts I can just turn on MTV. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know there are plenty of quality Bollywood movies, and I do watch the ones recommended to me by friends and family, but my point is that there is a lot more to South Asian culture than Bollywood. There is literature, for instance. Many of those judging me cannot read and write in their native tongue. I do not criticize them for this since I had the advantage of living in Bangladesh in early childhood and they did not; however, I do criticize them for being completely ignorant about South Asian literature and history. I may not know the names of some Bollywood stars, but I know the names of famous writers and poets in Bangladesh. I may not know the lyrics to Maa Da Laadla, but I know the lyrics to the Bengali national anthem. How many South Asians living in the States can tell me the name of the person who wrote the Bengali national anthem? Hint: it’s the same person who wrote the Indian national anthem, and won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1913 (Rabindranath Tagore). How many Bengali Americans can tell me in what year Bangladesh became independent (1971)? I do not claim to know much, but I do know I am not whitewashed.